Comments are very much appreciated and welcomed! 
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Routing for this daytrip transcon.
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American Airlines Flagship Suites First Class, MIA-LAX-MIA, Miami International Airport American Airlines / Oneworld Premium Lounge, Miami, and Los Angeles International Airport.
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FOREWORD
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Until a few months ago, I was acutely unaware of the American Airlines hub at Miami International Airport (MIA), despite my residence in Lauderdale by the Sea, a suburb of FLL located on a barrier Island accessible by drawbridge and A1A, the beach road.
Much like any airline hub, MIA is host to many domestic, intercontinental, and regional jet operations. The service I was interested in most, however, was the daily MIA-LAX-MIA Transcontinental service. This turn is ran in either direction on 95% Boeing 737-800 and 757-200 (both domestically and internationally configured 752s), but one service a day is serviced by a three class (First Class/Business Class/Economy Class) 777-200 ER (Extended Range) aircraft, as a way to position the aircraft within the USA as a follow-up to an International service. The F and J cabins are sold separately, and have their own independent services, as on normal intercontinental legs. Plus, full-fare First Class (F or Z inventory) ticket holders are entitled to use the entirely walled-off Flagship Check-in areas and Flagship First Class Lounges, so this turn is a great way to get the full International First Class experience without even leaving the USA.
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A brief history of International First Class services on American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and US Airways
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(
NOTE: This will be a short introduction to the current and discontinued International First Class products onboard USA-based airlines. If you want to skip straight to the report, scroll directly to Reply 1 / One.)
American Airlines (
Flagship First Class Suites) and United Airlines (
United GlobalFirst Suites) are the only two legacy carriers based in the USA that still offer separate First Class and Business Class cabins on portions of their international fleets: AA offers Flagship First Class Suites on all Boeing 777-300 and select 777-200 airplanes, with the "new"
772 fleet remodeling replacing the Flagship Suites First Class with B.E. Aerospace Contour Sleeper Suites, which is the product used in the
BusinessElite Cabin of all Delta Boeing 767-300 and 767-400 aircraft. United Airlines (UA) offers GlobalFirst Suites aboard all 747-400 (744) airframes, United Airlines pre-merger 767-300s, and United Airlines Pre-Merger 777-200s. UA themselves used to offer First Class angle flat bed seating on their own transcontinental routes, [url=Premium Service (stylized as [b]
p.s.[/b]), before
removing the first class cabin and transforming the cabin layout into a Business Class (utilizing the pre-merger Continental Airlines - CO - BusinessFirst Seats, which UA seems to have an obsession with) Economy Plus, and Economy layout. The old p.s. First Class seats, copyright Airliners.net and associated Photographer Sam Chui:
United Airlines 757-200 p.s. (Premium Service) Transcon First class. PHOTO COPYRIGHT SAM CHUI AND AIRLINERS.NET
As for the other two majors discontinued First Class cabins;
Delta Air Lines (IATA: DL, ICAO: DAL) has several detailed write-ups of its' history across the web, but I was only able to find a few bits and pieces of their discontinued International First Class. According to several sources, International First Class on Delta was featured on 747-100 (741), Lockheed L1011 TriStar, Douglas DC-10, McDonell Douglas MD-11, and Ex-GulfAir 767-300 aircraft.
Delta Air Line's International First Class hard product featured burgundy recliner seats in a 2-1-2 configuration, with 66 inches (five feet six inches) of legroom, electric recline, and a legrest with lumbar support. Food served in First Class was the same as J class, but served dish by dish on bone china dishes. IFE was overhead / bulkhead - projected movies, and later very small PTVs.
Delta removed First Class entirely with the complete discontinuation of the Lockheed L1011 fleet in the late 1990s and early 2000s, replaced with the
BusinessElite service you see today. Pictures of the Delta Air Lines International First Class Cabin on the Lockheed L1011 Aircraft:
Delta Air Lines International First Class Cabin on the Lockheed L1011 Aircraft, Copyright Airliners.Net and associated photographer Chris Coduto. Photograph taken in Atlanta - Hartsfield-Jackson Int (The William B Hartsfield / Municipal / Candler Field) (ATL / KATL) on July 8th, 2001.
Delta Air Lines International First Class Cabin on the Lockheed L1011 Aircraft, Copyyright Flickr User ConvairsForever, used with permission under Creative Commons license.
Old Eastern Air Lines (IATA: EA, ICAO: EAL) advertisement for the Lockheed L1011 aircraft, which Delta Air Lines inherited as part of the liquidation, and kept the cabin as-is as you see in the photos above.
US Airways (IATA: US, ICAO: AWE) International First Class product was even harder to research, and I only managed to find a minimal amount of data on it. Introduced only in the carrier's Airbus A330-300, with only one row of seats in the front of the plane, the hard product itself didn't last very long. It consisted of flat-bed seats with reading lights, over 70 inches of legroom, and seperate catering / amenity kits than the Business Class cabin. When the decision was made to remove the tiny F class setup, the First Class service was replaced with Business Class service and the FC seats were available for a nominal fee to J class pax (passengers).
US Airway's International First Class was discontinued in the early 2000's, and the removal wrapped up right around the time that the merger with America West Airlines (IATA: HP, ICAO: AWE) was approved. They were replaced by the
Envoy Suites Business Class service in use present-day (now called "Business Class" to avoid ambiguity with American Eagle, the regional subsidiary of American Airlines, renaming of "Envoy Air".) I trip reported on this product here:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...ad.main/253048
I only managed to find two pictures of it, and both are copyright Airliners.Net and their respective photographers, Robert Maturski, and Matthew J. Swickheimer.
US Airways International First Class on their A330-300 aircraft. Photo copyright Airliners.Net and the associated photographer, Robert Maturiski.
US Airways International First Class on their A330-300 aircraft, with the seat in "bed" mode and the amenity kit opened and visible. Photo copyright Airliners.Net and the associated photographer, Matthew J. Swickheimer.
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Now, without any other further ado, onto the report!
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